Etymologically
Log in

or

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 26 October 2026 at 04:58. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Forms

or (participle uratã)[1]

  • First-conjugation verb: aorist urai, imperfect uram, participle uratã, infinitive urari or urare.[2]
  • Other spellings: OR, a first-conjugation verb (urái, -át, -áre) in Papahagi's dictionary;[3] or (aorist urai) under the infinitive urări in Dalametra's Romanian-based spelling;[4] Pascu files it under the long infinitive URARE, present or;[5] Mihăileanu has the verbal noun urárea.[6]
  • Variants: Wiktionary lists oru, auredz, auredzu, aor and aoru;[1] Papahagi records aór (aorist auráï, infinitive auráre) and aurédzu in older texts, and refers both to or;[7][8] Cunia also sends aor and auredz to or.[9][10]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin ōrō (“to plead, speak; to pray”),[3][5][1] as Pascu and Papahagi both state.[5][3] De Vaan takes pleading and speaking openly as the original sense of the Latin verb and explains it as a verb formed on ōs (“mouth”); he finds the alternative link with a root Proto-Indo-European *h₂er- (“to speak solemnly”), which LIV adopts, very doubtful.[11]

The word is shared with Romanian ura (“to wish, congratulate”),[12][13] which also goes back to the Latin verb.[12][14] DÉRom reconstructs the Proto-Romance verb with the sense of addressing a supernatural being and asking for its help, and cites Aromanian or beside the Romanian verb; further west the verb survives as Italian orare, Old French orer, Catalan orar, Spanish orar and Portuguese orar.[14][15]

Earliest recorded meaning

The oldest record the sources name is Boiagi's grammar of 1813, which Pascu lists among his sources for the verb, glossed as to congratulate and to wish.[5]

Semantic evolution

From the Latin sense of pleading and praying, the Aromanian verb kept the sense of praying to God and of begging someone for a favour, and added that of wishing someone well and congratulating them.[2][3][5] Papahagi quotes vă or, nu mi cârtiţ (I beg you, do not upset me) and the wish oáră-li „cále-ambár” (wish him a good journey).[16] The Romanian cognate kept only the sense of wishing and congratulating.[12]

Timeline

  • 1813 – recorded in Boiagi's grammar, as cited by Pascu.[5]
  • 1901 – urárea “wishing, congratulation” in Mihăileanu's dictionary.[6]
  • 1905 – Or “to wish” in P. Papahagi's glossary of folk tales.[17]
  • 1906 – urări (or, urai) “to wish, congratulate” in Dalametra's dictionary.[4]
  • 1925 – Pascu derives it from Latin ōrāre.[5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To pray to God.[2][1][3]
  2. To beg or ask someone for a favour;[2][16] vă or “I beg you, please”.[2][16]
  3. To wish someone well, as on a name day or for their health.[2][4][3]
  4. To congratulate; to praise someone for what they have done.[2][5]
  • Romanian ura

Usage notes

Wiktionary also gives or as the plural of ore, a form of oarã “time, instance”.[1] Papahagi records a plural noun or “rosary”, which he takes to be the plural of oáră “hour”, the beads perhaps first numbering 24 for the hours of the day;[3] Nevaci also treats or “rosary” as that plural.[18]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 776
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Papahagi, Tache (1974), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, 2nd augmented ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. 936
  4. ^ a b c Dalametra, I. (1906), Dicționar macedo-român, București: Academia Română, p. 211
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Pascu, Giorge (1925), Dictionnaire étymologique macédoroumain, 2 vols. (I: Les éléments latins et romans; II: Les éléments grecs, turcs, slaves, albanais, germaniques, magyars, néologismes, créations immédiates, obscurs), Iași: Cultura Națională, p. 1, 180
  6. ^ a b Mihăileanu, Ștefan (1901), Dicționar macedo-român, București, p. 524
  7. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1974), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, 2nd augmented ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. 170
  8. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 178
  9. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 84
  10. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 161
  11. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  12. ^ a b c Ciorănescu, Alexandru (1958–1966), Diccionario etimológico rumano, La Laguna: Universidad de La Laguna (Romanian ed.: Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române, București: Saeculum, 2001)
  13. ^ Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
  14. ^ a b Buchi, Éva; Schweickard, Wolfgang, eds. (2008–), Dictionnaire Étymologique Roman (DÉRom), Nancy: ATILF, http://www.atilf.fr/DERom
  15. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  16. ^ a b c Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 807
  17. ^ Papahagi, Pericle (1905), Basme aromâne și glosar, București: Academia Română, p. 671
  18. ^ Nevaci, Manuela (2011), Graiul aromânilor fărșeroți din Dobrogea, revised ed., București: Editura Universitară, p. 214